The Mystery Spot is a visual illusion–based tourist attraction near Santa Cruz, California, opened in 1939 by George Prather. [1] Visitors experience demonstrations that appear to defy gravity, on the short but steep uphill walk and inside a wooden building on the site. The Mystery Spot is a popular tourist attraction, and gained recognition as a roadside "gravity box" or "tilted house" illusion.[2] At this roadside attraction, the laws of gravity and physics seem to disappear as balls roll uphill and people lean over past their toes without tumbling over.[3]

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The Mystery Spot was first discovered by George Prather in 1939. George Prather was an electrician, mechanic, and inventor before he opened the site. He was born near Fresno and moved to Santa Cruz in 1920. He owned a welding shop and repair garage in the area before he discovered the Mystery Spot. The Mystery Spot was one of several roadside attractions that opened after World War II for new automobile owners and was featured on Art Baker's television show You Asked For It.

Prather was inspired to open the site by the popularity of the nearby Oregon Vortex which opened to the public in 1930. According to a newspaper report, Prather bought 3 acres on the hill in 1940 after he felt slightly dizzy while walking and was interested in his dizziness. The newspaper also reported that during further exploration of his property he found his compass jittering and he then built his "crazy house" and opened the site to the public in June 1941, where tour guides lead visitors through the Mystery Spot on a daily basis. The site is what is known as a gravity hill and was the first of its kind to be built in California. The guides perform various demonstrations to showcase the unusual phenomena that Prather stumbled upon.[4]

Prather died in January 1946 and at that time his son Bruce inherited the land and continued running The Mystery Spot with his father's business partner Vaden McCray until his own passing in 2015.[5] The McCray family was photographed for the Life magazine spread on the Mystery spot for their November 15, 1948 issue. McCray died in 2001 before Bruce Prather. An unnamed Santa Cruz lawyer now owns the property.[6] The Mystery Spot was nominated in July 2014 to be designated as a California Historical landmark and was officially declared as California Historical Landmark #1055 in August 2014.[7]

The Mystery Spot is a gravity hill, tilt-induced visual illusion. The illusion experienced by visitors results from the oddly tilted environment as well as standing on a tilted floor. Inside the tilted room of the Mystery Spot, misperceptions of the height and orientation of objects occur.[9] Even when people are standing outside on a level ground, the slant of the building in the background causes misperceptions as humans judge the height of people using the slant of the roof rather than the true horizon.[10]

These visual illusions include balls rolling uphill and people leaning farther than normally possible without falling down.[11] Psychologists at Berkeley state that all of the misperceptions stem from the simple fact that the house is slanted at a 20 degree angle.[12] Professor William Prinzmetal states, “When the perceiver's body also is tilted, the distorting impact on vision is greatly magnified- up to two or three times.”[13] Another point he makes is that distorted orientation causes other senses to fall back while your visual senses become heightened.[14] People standing at impossible angles and water flowing uphill are related to the angle at which the house sits on.

Other suggestions have been proposed to explain the reason behind The Mystery Spot’s odd gravitational rules and illusions. Tour guides suggest that “a meteor which fell in ancient days and left a magic circle” is the cause behind the mystery,[15] and suggest that an electromagnetic field on the hill deters wildlife.[16] These are theories proposed by guides for entertainment, and not scientific reasoning.[17]

The Mystery Spot was the first 'gravity-defying' tourist attraction in California and was the most prominent illusion-based tourist attraction in California in the mid-20th century.[20] The Mystery Spot has been featured on Buzzfeed, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, comic strips, travel blogs, and newspapers for decades.[21]

^Gullickson, Christina. "Top 10 Things to Do in Santa Cruz County before You Die: No. 6 Take a Tour of the Famous Mystery Spot." Santa Cruz Sentinel. Santa Cruz Sentinel, 15 July 2012. Web. 16 Mar. 2017